


Old World Coffee

by Daniellecluck



Series: Vampires and Fae and Coffee Oh My [1]
Category: Faerie Folklore, Original Work, Vampires - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Chapters are for losers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fae & Fairies, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Nothing explicit, Short Story, Snapchat, Supernatural Elements, There should be a vampire fandom tag cause that's where this belongs tbh, This is my love letter to vampires and fanfiction, This is only a coffee shop fic in the loosest sense of the term, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, altho idk how oc is an au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23760736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daniellecluck/pseuds/Daniellecluck
Summary: Since he was a vampire, working the night shift at a slow 24 hour coffee shop had seemed like a good idea to Aleks at first. No need for sleep meant it's not like he had anything better to do, might as well try to earn easy rent money somehow. However, some new customer turns out to be a bit more tiring than he'd like, meaning he might actually have to both care and make an effort to survive this.Original Vampire story for the prompt of: gay vampires. Written for my amazing bff, Marford.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: Vampires and Fae and Coffee Oh My [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728778
Comments: 15
Kudos: 48





	Old World Coffee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forprussia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forprussia/gifts).



> Love Vampires. Love being gay. This is the result.

So, the coffee filters had already been restocked, the to-go cups as well, and there weren’t even any dishes left to pretend to clean. Aleks looked at his phone and noted it was only like 1am. He was in for a long shift. To tell the truth, he didn’t know why he bothered to pretend he was doing stuff in the first place. It’s not like there were any customers in right now anyway, nor cameras to watch him browse through Snapchats instead of do whatever he was supposed to be doing. Hell, there were hardly any customers ever around during the night shift on _any_ night. Sometimes some drunk low life with no friends would come in and mutter random racist shit at or about him. Fun times, definitely hated those ones. Other times he’d get a graveyard shift nurse or doctor or something around 3-4am. They were usually nice. But other than that, it was as dead as, well him. 

He was pretty sure Old World Coffee was only open 24/7 anyway because the owner used the extra hours to money launder the crap out of it. Whatever. Not really his problem or concern. He was only here for that _oh so amazing_ $9.40 an hour overnight shift since he had no real need to sleep, like ever. He thought about the increase in rent that would inevitably come with renewing his lease next month. Sometimes he was glad to have been turned at 20. Eternally youthful looks and all that, but tonight was not one of those times. Looking perpetually like a college aged kid never did make job hunting any easier. In addition, the fact that 20-year-old him had decided long hair was ‘the coolest way to rebel’ a century ago meant he was stuck with that too. He was at least thankful man buns had come into style in recent years, but maybe that’s why he could only land gigs as a barista lately. God, he hated his fucking un-life.

Aleks glanced up from viewing random snap stories to verify that, still, no one was in the shop. Yup. Still as lonesome and dusty as before. He should probably, technically, clean the tables or something since it was, technically, his job. Whatever. The morning crew could do it. He shrugged it off before reaching under the counter to pull out his opaque tumbler filled with that sweet, sweet life juice. Sucking through the straw with two rather pointed canines was more difficult than he’d care to admit, but what was he supposed to do? There’d been a sale on curly, reusable straws last Saturday night, and he saw one that had little bats printed on it, so like he was legally obligated to buy and use it. He quickly got over the minor inconvenience of having fangs and absent mindedly sipped on his drink drink while laughing at a funny cat snap he saw.

_Nice, it’s got like. Bean toes._

“Hello, excuse me?”

Aleks dropped his phone and started choking on his drink at the unexpected intrusion. Still coughing, he looked up and noticed some dumbass had actually decided he wanted coffee at 1:15am. _Ugh_. He held up a finger to let the intruder know he’d be with them as soon as he could like, you know, talk. He swears he saw the dude roll his eyes at that, but nothing else was said while Aleks finished choking.

“Can’t you warn a guy before sneaking up on him?” Aleks said after he could manage to talk.

The customer raised an eyebrow at that, but otherwise was unphased by the comment as he held out his hand toward Aleks.

“You dropped this,” he said indicating the phone in his outstretched hand, “And I’d hardly say I snuck up on you. I did walk through the front door of a public building.”

Aleks took the phone but made no retort back apart from a ‘thankful’ grunt. He must be losing his grip tonight, since a human had managed to surprise him. That, or he was just really into cat pics. He studied the customer a little closer, but he couldn’t note anything unusual about him. Shaggy, dark-blonde hair. A wrinkled AF khaki shirt. The daisy tucked behind his ear was a nice touch, but otherwise dude looked like every other prick that rolled up in here for their late-night munchies, only maybe slightly more awake and _perhaps_ slightly more attractive. The latter was probably ‘cause he appeared a tad less stoned than the normal munchies customer. Well, too bad anyway. He hadn’t restocked the pastries since he’d gotten here. This guy could get 12-hour stale scones and die mad about it. Aleks had real concerns to worry about, like how he’d nearly spilled his…

“What are you drinking?” The customer said, rudely interrupting Aleks’ train of thought.

“Huh?” he responded, still needing at least a full three seconds to process words right now.

“What are you drinking?” he repeated, “Is it a menu item here?”

“No,” Aleks said and looked down at the red liquid that was vaguely visible through both the tumbler and in remnant droplets throughout the swirly bat straw. “It’s uh, Kool-Aid.” _Wow, good one Aleks._ “Don’t worry about it, it’s a medical drink.” _What does that even mean? You’re way off game tonight._

“Hmm,” the customer said, likely pondering upon what the hell medicinal Kool-Aid was.

“Look, are you gonna order something or not?” Aleks asked, trying to take scrutiny off what he was drinking at the moment.

“I’m deciding,” he said, “Since you apparently have no suggestions.”

“There’s like blueberry scones and stu…” he started to offer, hoping the sooner Blondie got his munchies fix, the sooner he’d leave.

“I’m not hungry,” Blondie stopped him.

_Great._

The guy took his time deciding and even whipped out a notebook from his pants pocket to flip through some pages and jot down some unnecessary notes. There were only like 10 options to choose from, so why this guy needed a full eternity to decide what he wanted Aleks couldn’t say. He did, however, manage not to bang his head on the register out of frustration while he waited for him to order, so that was a win. Barely.

“Small black coffee,” the dude finally decided, putting the notebook away.

It’s a miracle Aleks didn’t snap the register in half then and there. Instead, he bit his tongue a little harder than necessary and quickly whipped up the drink. Then, just because he felt like being extra tonight, he asked for a name for the order.

“Are you serious?” Blondie asked him in disbelief, “There’s no one else even in here.”

Aleks simply didn’t respond. He felt no need to. He could waste an eternity of this guy’s time too if he wanted.

“Fine. It’s Chase, thank you _oh so very much_ …Aleks?” he said squinting at the name tag pinned to his apron.

Aleks rolled his eyes and took his name tag off, tossing it into a nearby counter drawer. He then pulled out a sharpie with which he illegibly scribbled on the cup of coffee and slammed it down on the counter. Weirdo, or Chase if you’d like, in return paid his 2.50 dues completely on card and left no tip, predictably and understandably. To Aleks’ dismay, weirdo also decided to dine in, and plopped himself down at the nearest table which happened to be right across from the counter. _Ugh._ So he wasn’t going to get to finish his ‘Kool-Aid’ at the moment. Whatever. Give it like, twenty minutes tops and he’d be gone. No one ever wanted to hang out in this dusty, old place at night.

Only he didn’t. Leave that is. The dude had pulled out the notebook again and started writing and sketching in it for _two flipping hours_. This was the longest anyone had ever stayed on during one of his night shifts. Ever. After an hour, Aleks had even given up on pretending to do anything and just decided to stare the guy down hoping he’d catch the hint and leave. Instead he took it as an invitation to talk.

“Are you normally here alone?” he asked him.

“What?” Aleks responded, only slightly leaving his previous state of disassociation.

“Like, is it normally this dead?” Chase said and smiled at him, as if they were sharing an inside joke. He didn’t even know this guy. “I mean I know it’s 3 am, but still.”

“Uh, yeah I guess this is the normal state of things,” he said, not knowing why it mattered though, he added, “Why?”

“No reason,” Chase answered and went back to scribbling in his notebook. “Just curious.”

He then made a whole thing about “just now” noticing his cup had been empty, even though Aleks was sure he’d finished it over an hour ago at this point. After, finally, getting up to throw it away, Chase picked up the rest of his stuff, gave a small wave and left. Aleks let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, nor had he really any need to. Stupid rando and his stupid face. Aleks hoped to never see him again. He worked here to have minimum work and watch cat videos and posts all night. If he wanted to like awkwardly disassociate while some dude drank coffee across from him, he’d just hang out at the local 7/11 down the road. _Ugh_. He just remembered the blood in his tumbler; it was going to be all room temperature now. Walking over to clean up a napkin the dude had left, Aleks noticed a crisp 20-dollar bill underneath it. The napkin had a smiley face drawn on it and a small sketch of a flower. _Huh._ Okay, so maybe he wouldn’t completely mind seeing the dude’s face again.

* * *

It was two days later before he got his wish. He’d gotten bored enough that night that he’d pulled out a vile of nail polish and was in the middle of painting his thumb the same shade of black as his hair. He did have an aesthetic to keep after all, and unlike his undead hair, his nails would actually hold color. However, he was interrupted halfway through.

“Hey.”

“Gah,” he managed to get out before messing up his thumb. Great, now there was polish going down to his knuckle. He’s lucky he didn’t manage to spill the whole bottle.

“You’re not very attentive, are you?” Chase teased him as he approached the counter.

He’d switched the daisy in his hair out for a tulip today; Aleks thought it suited him just as well.

“You’re don’t give people much warning before sneaking up on them, do you?” he retorted as he put away the vile of nail polish.

“Hmm,” was all Weirdo-Blondie had in response to that.

“Anything important to do tonight or just here to stare at me again?” Aleks asked. He needed to know if his disassociation schedule was going to be thrown off again tonight.

“You noticed that?” he looked a bit embarrassed by that but snapped himself out of it quickly and changed topic. “You know, I stopped by yesterday morning as well, but you weren’t around.”

“Yeah,” Aleks said. _Weirdo stalker,_ he thought afterward. “I’m night shift only.”

“Yeah, they told me that,” Chase told him as he studied the menu above the counter.

 _So much for the boss not giving out employee info_. To be honest though, he didn’t know what he expected from a barely above minimum wage gig that was probably a money laundering front. But still.

“Am I truly the only customer you ever get at these hours?” Chase asked him, still taking his sweet time with the ten-item long menu.

If Aleks weren’t dead inside, and out, right now, he may have mistaken the question for flirting. Especially with the sing-song way he'd said it. However, he was instead too preoccupied with the fact that there were only ten minutes left until there were only four hours left in his shift. Exciting. He almost forgot he was even asked something in the first place.

“I mean, usually yeah,” he answered after finally focusing on his only customer rather than the clock. “At least the only one that stays. The others have the decency to leave after they order something.”

Chase chuckled at that.

“You’re actually kind of funny,” he said, “You know, for a…um… overworked barista. I’ll take a small black coffee again.”

Aleks didn’t know if that was really a compliment but chose to ignore it in any case.

“Name for the order?” He drawled. He couldn’t let this guy know he’d actually bothered to remember his name after only meeting him one time. That was super strange. Especially for someone over 100 years old.

“Are you serious?” Chase asked in disbelief. He was, after all, still the only person in the shop.

Aleks made no indication of continuing as he waited for a response.

“Fine. Chase.”

After getting his cup and paying, this time leaving a similar sized tip on the card, Chase hastily shoved his wallet away and moved toward the exit.

“I was only teasing about the staring at me thing,” Aleks let slip out after him, “You can stay and do that, if you really want.” Wait, was _he_ flirting now? _Ugh. Curse this dude’s passably attractive face_.

Chase stopped.

“Yeah, I know. It’s fine. I have some stuff tonight though. Gardening stuff. But if you really don’t ever have um, guests, customers? I could stop by next shift. If you’re scheduled?”

“I’m always here,” Aleks answered biting back the urge to ask who goes out to garden at this time of night. “Literally ever damn night.” He added under his breath.

Chase smiled and batted awkwardly at one of the window blinds near the front door.

“Okay, so it’s a date?”

Then the bastard left before Aleks could process what just happened.

* * *

It was rare for Aleks to bother with human friendship, but it was even rarer for him to bother with human dating. It was messy. They would live a few decades, get old, and leave, which sucked. Not that he personally knew the experience, but he’d seen acquaintances and friends go through it, and that was enough to convince him things needed to stay casual with people. So with this whole Chase thing, he figured maybe they’d hang out once or twice. They’d have some fun when it came to that, but there was no need to plan for more. God, he hoped the dude would stop coming by the shop once it was all over, or it’d be really awkward, and he was not in the position to go out job searching again right now. There’s only so many options you have when your only legal social security card technically says you’re either 120 or dead. To be honest, he hadn’t bothered to check which one it popped up as in years.

He lost his train of thought on the topic though when Chase finally showed up around 1:30am. He carried with him a faded messenger bag, which was new, but otherwise looked as disheveled as was normal for him. _Whatever._ Still better looking than the random stoners he normally got during his shift.

“Hey sorry I’m late? I think. I don’t know. We didn’t really set a time,” Chase said as he made his way inside.

“Dude, chill, it’s fine,” Aleks said, hoping he sounded casual enough. He didn’t want to come off as too eager. He hadn’t hooked up with anyone in like five-ish years, but he was pretty sure that eagerness was a thing you were supposed to avoid.

Chase smiled and took a seat at his normal table across the counter. Aleks noted he lacked the flower normally tucked behind his ear today. It disappointed him more than he’d care to admit.

“So, are you legally allowed to come out from behind there, or is this just going to be a repeat of the night we met?” he teased.

Aleks let out a sarcastic laugh at that but did take off his apron, throw it on the counter, and join Chase at the table.

“There’s literally nothing legal about this place, my dude,” he said as he sat down, “And I’m pretty sure the boss does not know or care what I get up to here as long as I don’t steal stuff.”

Chase nodded in agreement.

“Yeah I figured as much with how dead it is in here,” he said.

 _You have no idea,_ Aleks joked to himself.

The lights in the pastry display case flickered and buzzed behind them. Aleks winced, annoyed at the noise, and wondered if Chase could hear them too. If he could, he didn’t seem bothered by it.

“Hey, do you want anything?” Aleks asked, gesturing over to aforementioned case behind him. He’d even bothered to replace the stale scones tonight too.

“No, I’m good tonight,” Chase said as he grabbed his messenger bag off the table and placed it on his lap. Aleks watched him dig around in his bag and wished he too had something to fiddle with.

“So,” Aleks offered.

“Hmm?” Chase offered back without looking up at him. Instead, he pulled out a pen from his bag, set it on the table, and went straight back to searching for more materials.

Aleks let him continue for about a minute or so before beginning to wonder if this was standard procedure for these kinds of things. Maybe he was too out of practice.

“Hey, I’m just gonna be up front, I’m not really like, well practiced with…this kind of stuff,” Aleks told him.

Chased momentarily stopped rummaging around and glanced up at him.

“Really?” he said in disbelief, “To be honest, ‘this kind of stuff’ is new to me too. At least this way of doing it,” He laughed. Aleks didn’t get what was so funny about that.

The two sat in silence some more seconds before Chase went back to rummaging around in his bag. This time he pulled out his notebook and set it down next to the pen. Finally satisfied, Chase set his bag aside and began to sketch something. Aleks tried not to be too nosey, but with pristine vision it was kind of hard not to note the numerous sketches on the page of various animals with citations written next to them. One that stuck out in particular was of a large black bat. It was pretty good too, he’d admit.

“Oh, you draw? They’re really good,” Aleks said just to have something to say. He was hoping the ‘hook up’ part of the date would come sooner rather than later though. If he was lucky, maybe Chase would ignore his small talk and be on the same ‘lets skip the formalities and get to the fun’ wave he was on.

Instead, Chase jumped at the question and slammed his notebook shut.

“I didn’t realize you could see those,” he muttered.

Now Aleks felt bad. He hadn’t meant to embarrass him; he was honestly just trying to make a connection. Well, that and get laid. Mostly the latter.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to peek,” he offered.

“It’s fine,” Chase said, although it seemed anything but as he scrambled to put the notebook and pen away.

“They were good though, honest,” Aleks said.

“What?” Chase asked, only half paying attention.

“The drawings, they were pretty good,” Aleks said and nodded toward the bag now on the floor beside them. “I saw you had like a bat or something?”

“Thanks. Yeah it was a bat,” Chase looked rather uncomfortable now, and Aleks struggled wondering where he’d messed up. Was there some new dating ritual he hadn’t heard of where you were supposed to blatantly do your own thing the first five minutes of a date? Maybe he should have just used that Tindr app or something. Probably could have skipped all the formalities that way.

“So. Are you new around the area then?” Chase piped up. Aleks ignored the pivot from discussing the drawings. It wasn’t that big a deal, he’d only been trying to make conversation anyway.

“No,” Aleks had been in the city for at least a decade now, not that Chase needed to know that. “You?”

“No,” Chase responded.

“Hmm.”

“Hmm.”

Chase glanced toward the front door. Aleks twiddled his thumbs.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Chase asked him.

“Oh, thank god. Yes,” Aleks breathed a sigh of relief. Seems like Chase was on the same wavelength as him after all. “I think I’m stuck here for at least another couple hours though. I can’t afford to be blamed if someone comes in and robs the place while I’m away.”

“Hmm,” Chase pondered that and looked around the room to take in the surroundings. “I guess here will have to suffice then.”

Aleks nearly choked on his own spit at that. Dang this dude was kinky. Not unwelcome, but certainly a surprise.

“Are you serious?” Aleks asked. He wanted to be certain there were no misunderstandings.

Chase hummed and stood up. He then walked over to the windows by the front door to pull all the various blinds shut.

“You said you hardly ever get customers besides from me, no?” He asked.

“I mean, I guess, yeah,” Aleks admitted.

“Then I don’t see an issue,” Chase said, “Where’s the light switch around here…ah good.”

With the blinds shut and the lights off, it was dark enough that no one looking in at the shop would suspect anything illicit was going on here. Not that it really affected Aleks’ vision much, but the mood it set was rather provoking. Getting raunchy at work. This would surprisingly be something unprecedented for him. _Whatever_. No point in living forever if you don’t try new things.

Chase made his way back over to their table and went back to searching around in his bag for a second.

 _Probably looking for a condom._ _Aw, he came prepared_. Aleks would admit he thought that was kind of hot.

Before he could muse more on the subject though, Chase stood up, reached over, and grabbed him by the collar to pull him to his feet.

 _Hot,_ Aleks thought. This night was going better than he’d planned.

Aleks was struggling to unbutton his shirt and keep up as Chase dragged them over to the nearest wall and pinned him up against it. Before he could fully process what was happening, Chase was mouthing all over his neck.

Okay, normally this was the other way around for him, but Aleks was flexible. Getting all his buttons off, he brought his hand up to comb through Chase’s hair, but it was immediately pinned back against the wall. _Hmm_. Chase may be more intense than he’d thought, but that too was fine. It wasn’t like he could hurt him much. They continued this way for a full minute or so. Aleks wondered why he didn’t hook up with humans more often.

 _God, he smells so intoxicating_.

He was wondering if he could get away with biting him, just a little. Right, maybe that’s why he didn’t hook up with humans that often. But like, with how kinky this guy was, surely, he might be able to get away with it. Play it off as some ‘normal’ biting kink. He continued fantasizing about the possibilities when he his free, unpined hand down by Chase’s thigh and felt something off. It felt hard sure, but unless Aleks was crazy, he was pretty sure he didn’t like what he felt Chase holding in his hand down there.

“What the fu-?” he started before Chase was already moving against him.

Aleks only just succeeded in getting his unpinned hand up in time to block the blow from its intended target. The stake Chase had been wielding was knocked off course from penetrating through his heart and veered instead into his left shoulder.

“Did you just stab me?” Aleks asked, although he wasn’t sure why. The proof was right there. He could feel blood trickle down his chest. _Great._ This was never going to come out; now he’d have to buy a new employee shirt, and the wound would take _days_ to heal.

“I missed,” Chase stated in disbelief, “I never miss.”

Aleks shoved Chase off him with a force hard enough to push him back a good 3 feet. He crashed into their table, and said table fell on top of the messenger bag, spilling its contents onto the floor. In addition to the notebook and pen, a backup supply of three other stakes spilled out as well and rolled across the room.

“This is not how I planned this night would go,” Aleks said berating himself. How had he missed that the dude was a hunter? He should have known from day one. Normal humans are _never_ that stealthy.

Chase, still on the floor, dug out a cross necklace from his pocket and chucked it at him. Aleks sneered at it and brushed it aside.

“I was never religious, my dude. Not gonna work that well. God damn it, now I’m gonna have to find a new place to work. They never let me stay after I’ve offed someone, and they always find out somehow,” Aleks was mentally trying to calculate how much savings he had and if that would be enough to pay rent next month. The answer was a big fat no. Granted, probably not his biggest concern right now, but he’d take care of the hunter in a second.

He ran over and picked up a stake and the notebook before the hunter managed to. Vampire speed helped with that kind of stuff. Or it usually did. When he looked up, however, he noticed Chase had managed to snag the other two stakes and was now standing up pointing them towards him. An impasse then. Hunters were easy to off when disarmed. One with a weapon though… He’d have to put in actual effort. _Ugh._ He’d just wanted to get laid.

“How long did you know?” Aleks asked, trying to make small talk while he worked out a plan. He pointed out the stake and aimed it at Chase, just to discourage him from jumping forward. Although it was more difficult than he’d like to admit seeing as he was also holding the notebook, and his shoulder wound had yet to start healing over.

“Like thirty seconds after I walked in the door. You were drinking blood out of a fucking tumbler,” Chase snapped at him before throwing a stake like a dagger. Forgetting he’d already been stabbed in the shoulder, he tried to catch it with his left arm only to faulter when the pain caught up with him. It scraped his hand and fell to the floor. _Great._ More blood he’d have to get off the shop’s floor.

“Most people believe it’s Kool-Aid though,” Aleks mumbled. He couldn’t believe the cute tumbler with a spiral straw had betrayed him.

“Yeah, well most people are dumbasses,” Chase said still wielding the other stake at him, “The straw had bats on it, for Pete’s sake. Now, give me my notebook and stake back. Actually, stakes, plural. I’d like the one hanging out of your shoulder back too.”

“Uh. No. I’m good,” Aleks said glancing down at the notebook and remaining stake he held in his right hand. He had no idea why keeping the notebook was a hill he was willing to die on. He didn’t really want it, probably just spite to be honest. If the hunter wanted it, he wanted it destroyed. He wondered if he could chuck a stake from a distance like the hunter had. Probably not. He never was good at long distance combat. “You should give me that stake you got there though.”

“No. I’m good,” Chase mimicked him.

The two circled each other, each unwilling to make the subsequent move, until the door opened.

“I thought I locked that,” Chase commented.

“Hey, do ya’ll sell scones?” their new guest asked.

It was just some stoner. Of course. Who else would walk into an unlit coffee shop at 2 in the morning with chairs and tables thrown about and two guys pointing stakes at each other, one of which was bleeding, stabbed, and with his shirt only halfway on, just to ask for scones completely unfazed?

“I thought you didn’t usually get customers during your shifts,” Chase accused him.

“Yeah, and I thought you wanted to hook up,” Aleks shot back.

Chase lowered his remaining stake and shoved it into his pocket.

“Yeah, they do sell scones here,” he said to the random stoner as he walked over to flick the lights back on.

Chase and Aleks made eye contact and realized the fight was over now. Neither of them was willing to off some rando just for being witness to their crap. Chase hastily picked up his bag and even propped the fallen table back up. Aleks tossed the notebook back over to Chase with much more force than he would have a normal human. Chase caught it and shoved it into the messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Aleks did get a little satisfaction though noting the notebook had been stained by his blood in certain spots. He knew from personal experience it would never come off.

“Thanks for the uh coffee. See you,” Chase said and headed out.

“I mean, I’d rather not,” Aleks muttered as the door swung shut.

Man, this was like, the fifth worst night of his un-life. Stupid Chase and his stupid face.

* * *

Aleks managed to get about a week free of any more direct shenanigans before the hunter bothered him again. Which in of itself was torture. Most run-ins with hunters and vampires ended when one of them offed the other. The rare times Aleks had escaped and let one go, they usually came back the next night to try to start more crap. Chase was staying away though. Not that he’d _told_ Aleks he’d do that, so Aleks had spent the entire week looking over his shoulder and wondering when the next attack was going to come. He would have quit his job soon too, out of caution, but he was so, so poor right now. He had about 350 in the bank and still hadn’t paid this month’s rent. He really never was going to forgive himself for sleeping for the entirety of the 1980s instead of investing in tech companies like his colleagues had. But what was he supposed to do? When you gotta depression nap, you gotta depression nap.

He snapped out of his reminiscing enough to remember he was, technically, supposed to be working. The college girl he’d given a mocha to was still sitting over in the far corner of the shop. He glanced down at his phone which said it was 11:07. How the hell had he only been on shift for 7 minutes? He was going to lose it.

He heard the door swing open, and he couldn’t even pretend to greet whoever came in. He was busy trying to cope with the fact he would have to stand here for another 6 hours. Why did tonight have to be one of his busiest in weeks?

“Menu’s above my head. Just give an order, whenever,” he said.

“No time, fangs. Just keep quiet,” a familiar voice answered.

 _Uggh._ He was _not_ in the mood for this right now. He’d hoped he’d lucked out and the hunter had conveniently forgotten about him and moved to Antarctica or something.

Chase did not seem to care though, as he ignored Aleks’ protests and hopped behind the counter to crouch down by his feet. Aleks had to remind himself to not get all worked up at the sight of the hunter on his knees below him like that. That’s what almost got him killed last time.

“You know there’s some chick in here right now, dude?” Aleks said motioning to the girl over in the corner of the shop.

“I don’t care,” Chase hissed, not even bothering to look where he was pointing. “Just stop talking to me.”

“What?”

“I said quiet!” he shushed him.

Aleks short circuited trying to piece together how he was supposed to handle this situation. Okay, so the hunter that had just tried to kill him like a week ago was squatting down behind the coffee counter at 11pm. He couldn’t spot any weapons or anything, but that meant little with hunters. They were good at hiding crap in the tiniest crevasses. All that was besides the point anyhow. He wouldn’t let one of the random stoners that came in get all up in his personal space like this, even though they lacked the ability to harm him. He did _not_ want the hunter near him right now. He watched Chase pull out his cursed notebook, still splattered with red, and scribble something down frantically before Aleks remembered he had the ability to kick him out. Literally.

He kicked at the hunter with his foot, as lightly as he could. He didn’t want to kill the dude. Then he’d have to deal with the body for the rest of his shift.

“Dude, Get. The. Hell. Out. Of. Here,” he said with a kick between each word.

“Will you be quiet, please?” Chase shot up at him and pushed his foot away. “Look, I’m not here for you, I swear. I’m hiding from someone.”

That didn’t really explain anything. Aleks kicked at him again. God, he wondered what this looked like to the college chick over in the corner, if she noticed.

“Not my problem,” Aleks told him.

“I’ll give you 50 dollars to let me sit here and to tell anyone that asks you haven’t seen me,” Chase offered.

“What?” Aleks said as he held off on a subsequent kick.

Before Chase could answer, the door swung open yet again, and an attractive woman with long blue hair and a homemade flower crown came in. _Ugh._ Why were there 3x as many people here tonight? He’d just wanted to disassociate in peace.

“Hiiii,” the woman said as she came up to the counter. Aleks noted her voice was soft, like a sweet breath of fresh air that he didn’t need but greatly appreciated.

Next to his leg, Chase froze stiff.

“I think my friend came by this way,” she sang, “We were supposed to meet up earlier. Did you happen to see anyone?”

Had the room gotten brighter? Aleks thought he might die for this woman, if he could.

“Depends, what’s he look like?” he answered in a voice that he hoped she’d catch as flirting. He needed to rebound after the whole Chase fiasco, and hot flower crown ladies were undeniably a level up above hunters.

Chase stabbed his leg from the below the counter with a pen. It stung, but since pens aren’t made to kill vampires, it felt more like a bee sting than anything else. Once he was sure he’d grabbed Aleks’ attention, he took out a hundred-dollar bill and subtly offered it to him.

“He’s like dirty blonde, this tall, usually carrying a messenger bag?” the woman said and leaned closer to him over the counter.

Aleks was going to kill himself. He was literally going to figure out a way to kill himself, but 100 bucks is 100 bucks. He took the cash from Chase’s hand.

“No, doesn’t sound familiar, sorry,” he lied through his teeth.

The woman studied him for a second, glanced down at his chest and then smiled.

“No problem. Thanks anyway,” she winked, “Hey, here’s my card. Let me know if you see anyone matching that description. I’d call my friend myself, but I think his phone’s off.”

Aleks looked at the card in his hand. It was nothing more than a phone number and an email. Who doesn’t put their name on their own business card?

“Strange that you folks don’t wear name tags here,” she commented with a smile, “Anywho, thanks again!”

After that she left, and Aleks heard Chase let out a sigh down by his feet.

“Gonna explain or like, nah?” Aleks asked.

Chase shushed him.

“Oh, is she another hook up you tried to kill?” Aleks asked, ignoring the shushing just because it pissed the hunter off.

“Shut up,” Chase warned, “She’s probably across the street still watching. Pull out your phone or something if you’re going to talk so you look less suspicious.”

“If I do, will you explain or…?” Aleks liked this. The hunter was rather easy to rile up right now.

“Fine, sure,” Chase acquiesced.

Aleks pulled out his phone and pretended to be fiddling with it. He looked out over the counter though and saw no one outside. They looked to be alone, save for college girl in the corner who appeared to be on an actual call herself, unphased, and in her own world right now. Aleks envied her so.

“You’re a terrible liar by the way,” Chase said.

“Sorry I don’t have spot-on acting skills when the dude that tried to _kill_ me decides to come hide under my freaking counter,” Aleks shot back at him.

“Yeah, not my best plan to be honest,” the hunter admitted, “I’m regretting coming here.”

“I’m regretting you being here. My phone’s out. Talk,” he said louder than was probably smart. College girl looked up and gave him the stink eye for it.

“I’ll call you back when I get on the train,” he heard her tell whoever she was talking to, “The fucking weird barista here’s yelling at his boyfriend behind the counter.”

Aleks made no effort to correct her and let her go. As she gathered her stuff and left, Chase finally began talking.

“I pissed off a couple fae the other night, okay?” he said.

Oh, that explained hot flower crown lady. It’d been a while since he’d seen any fae. They weren’t known for hanging out with vamps much.

“You pissed off some fae, and decided the best way to escape that was to go hang out with the vampire you pissed off last week?” Aleks questioned him.

“I’m not dead yet, am I?” Chase stated.

“That remains to be seen,” Aleks joked. Maybe. He hadn’t decided yet, “You’re a _hunter_. Don’t you have an iron sword or something in that bag of yours?”

“I don’t just carry around my entire arsenal all the time!” Chase spat up at him, “Besides, I don’t have one. I don’t usually hunt fae. Actually, I never have.”

“Just me, thanks. I’m pretty sure that old coffee grinder over there is part iron. Just like, take that and leave me alone,” Stuff in the shop was not, technically, Aleks’ to give away, but one broken coffee grinder wouldn’t be noticed by management. Heck, getting caught would be worth it if it got Blondie out of his hair.

“Oh sure,” Chase said, “I’ll just hit whoever comes at me with a coffee grinder.”

“You could melt it down!” Aleks offered.

“I’m not a blacksmith!” Chase replied.

“Then go buy something?” Aleks said. He didn’t know why a professional slayer hadn’t thought of that. He was pretty sure he’d seen useable weapons at like ren fairs before.

“These things take craftsmanship!” Chase chastised, “I’m just supposed to walk into my nearest Walmart and be like one iron knife please, oh and make sure it’s completely pure and uncontaminated?”

Aleks had the urge to kick him again.

“Okay, then order something online?” he retorted, “You need someone to show you how to use a computer? I figured that out around like 1991 after I woke up from…”

“I did order one!” Chase stopped him, “But it’s three weeks delayed.” He added.

“Okay, well I’m leaving here after my shifts over, so you can’t keep sitting under this counter for three weeks. You got until just after 5am,” He’d leave sooner if he didn’t desperately need the extra 50 bucks the remaining hours would give him.

Chase groaned and sunk his head into his knees. Aleks ignored him and unlocked his phone to look at funny cat snaps.

_Tee hee. Bean toes._

“I can pay you,” Chase mumbled into his knees, interrupting his cat time.

“To sit under this counter for three weeks?” Aleks asked, “Tempting, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have final say in that. There are other workers here during the day, you know.”

“No, I’ll pay you to guard me until my stuff arrives,” Chase said lifting his head up.

“That sounds less tempting, and less feasible,” Aleks sighed and closed the cute cat pics, “You’re just gonna hide under the counter every time I have to work? Sleep on my freaking couch? I only got one bed dude.”

“How much can you possibly make here?” the hunter asked him, “400 a week, 500? I’ll pay you double to just take the month or some weeks off.”

Aleks let out a hiss in surprise and nearly dropped his phone.

_Dummy, say no. This could be some elaborate scheme to off you in your own house. Aleks, I swear to god._

“I want half up front,” he said instead.

“Deal,” Chase said and pushed himself up off the floor, yet still stood back out of sight from the windows.

“Not even going to try to negotiate that?” Aleks was more suspicious now than before. But that money though.

“I’m kind of desperate, if you haven’t noticed,” Chase admitted and brushed off his pants.

 _Me too,_ Aleks thought.

“What if I’m not even good at protecting you, and you just die broke anyways?”

“Please,” he scoffed, “It’d take way more than paying double your salary for three weeks to bankrupt me.”

“Damn rich bitch,” Aleks grumbled.

“Hunting isn’t a cheap sport,” Chase said, “The gigs pay well.”

“It’s not really a sport, my dude. You kill people.”

“Besides,” Chase continued, ignoring him, “The average vampire can defeat the average fae in a fist fight. Full blooded fae aren’t typically renowned for their hand to hand combat skills. Also, you managed to block me from stabbing you before, so you’re already above average anyway.”

“Cocky much?” Aleks said.

“I am not,” Chase asserted, “You don’t last long at my job without skill.”

“Yeah well look where that ‘skill’s’ gotten you now,” Aleks pointed out.

“There’s a first for everything.”

Aleks looked around the shop. The undusted tables, flickering lights, and buzzing from the display stand reminded just how much he hated being here.

“I want the payment tonight if we’re doing this,” he said, “Do you need to stop by an atm? There’s one by…”

Chase had his wallet out and was counting bills before Aleks could finish his sentence.

“Is this enough?” he asked handing him 1000 bucks.

“I hate you, you know that right?” Aleks asked as he snatched the cash.

“Yeah, well. You don’t have to like me to do this gig.”

Wow, Aleks wanted to punch his stupid, perfect face more than anything in the world right now.

* * *

Aleks kicked off his shoes as soon as he got through his front door and plopped himself down face first onto the couch. He needed to just not exist for a few seconds before he was forced to face the reality of what he’d just agreed to do.

“Hey, do you have a light switch?” Chase asked, rudely pulling him back into reality.

Aleks groaned and pushed himself upright. He’d forgotten humans needed light to like, see things. Weirdos.

“It should be next to your left, on the wall,” he said and gestured vaguely, not caring if his instructions to the hunter were clear or not.

They were. Chase found the switch, flicked the lights on, and took in his surroundings in the apartment.

“Dang fangs, you live like this?” he said and let out a low whistle.

Aleks was debating whether or not he’d still get paid if he kicked the hunter. He didn’t think he should lose any pay for it; he’d only kick him a little bit.

Apart from the ratty couch Aleks was sitting on, the apartment consisted solely of a fold out card table with a single chair, a bare essentials kitchen, a littered scattering of dirty clothes piles, and a coffee table with a boxy 90s tv on it. A single window lined the living room wall, but it was covered in a heavy, dust-filled curtain. Oh, and near the tv were some VHS tapes of hit 90s sitcom Friends. You know, just the essentials.

“I mean, I’ve got a bedroom too,” Aleks said.

“Is there a freaky coffin in it?” Chase asked as he carefully stepped over various dirty shirts to make his way over to the lonesome card table chair.

“What?” he asked. _I mean, it might if I could afford that kind of aesthetic._ He refrained from adding. “No, it’s just my mattress on the floor, and a phone charger.”

“Of course it is,” Chase muttered and debated whether he should brush a pair of questionable socks off the chair so he could sit down in it. In the end, he left them be and remained standing.

“If you don’t like the set-up, you can leave,” Aleks offered as he turned around on the couch to face him. “I’m keeping the cash though.”

“No, this will suffice.”

Chase then made his way over to explore the kitchen, again stepping over the piles of laundry scattered about. The kitchen consisted of a fridge, stove, sink, and counter. The stove looked like it had not been turned on in at least a year. The sink had red stains around its rims. Unsurprisingly, he saw no sponges nor dish soap in sight. The cabinets had no dishes apart from mugs and cups. Against his better judgement, he opened the fridge to dig around for something to eat.

“I take it you don’t have guests over much?” Chase asked noting the fridge consisted of nothing but blood bags, and an expired stick of butter.

“Usually hook up at their place,” he explained from over on the couch.

“I can’t imagine why,” Chase joked to himself and shut the fridge door. “Do you have food in here that isn’t, how do I put this nicely. Suspiciously obtained bags of human blood?”

Aleks winced. He hadn’t thought about that before they’d rushed over here. Humans needing food and all. Normally when he hung out with humans they supplied their own stuff. He’d just assumed Chase would carry like, copious amounts of beef jerky in his messenger bag or something. How many jerky sticks could possibly be needed to sustain a human for a few weeks, six, ten?

“There might be some crackers or something in the top cabinet from the last person that lived here?” He offered.

Chase reached up on the top shelf and pulled down a single packet of peanut butter crackers alongside a jar of salsa.

“Yeah. No,” he said and tossed them both in the trash noting the expiration date for both was over four years ago. “Give me your phone.” He demanded and held his hand out. “I’ll just order something, if anything’s even open at this hour.”

Aleks, who had been planning on using his phone to do important things, like use the cat filter on snap, protested. “Why can’t you use your own phone?”

“I’m not just going to give up where I’m hiding that easily. My phone’s internet is turned off,” Chase stated, as if that made sense and the fae after him were like the FBI tracking his every move.

“You think the fuckin’ fae are working at the pizza shop? Gonna see a random order and be like, hah got em’?” Aleks teased him.

“Shut up,” Chase blushed, “I know more about avoiding supernatural creatures than you.”

“You’d be surprised,” Aleks admitted, “I’m really good at getting people to avoid me, usually. Right now there’s only one guy I can’t get off my back…”

Chase laughed at that before catching himself.

“Just give me your phone, fangs,” he said a motioned with his outright hand again.

Aleks unlocked his phone and held it out over his head, but refused to get up off the couch. If Blondie wanted it so bad, he could come over and get it. He ignored the loud sigh and what sounded like Chase calling him lazy under his breath. Making his way over the piles of clothes, Chase snatched the phone and placed his order before handing the phone back to Aleks. Aleks looked at the order confirmation and almost gagged.

“Extra cheese with anchovies and pineapple?” he read back the order, “I don’t eat human food, but this sounds like trash, dude.”

“Shut up,” Chase responded in turn.

This was going to be a longer three weeks than he’d thought. As they waited for the delivery driver, he already felt like it’d been days. It turned out Chase did _not_ consider watching the entirety of Friends on VHS an acceptable pastime, so now they were both ignoring each other on their individual phones on opposite sides of the couch. This could have been acceptable for a while, had Chase’s phone not died 15 minutes into it and had he then not proceeded to take Aleks’ just to play freaking caveman adventures or whatever hunting game he’d had downloaded on there.

“You’re really bad at that,” he commented looking over the hunter’s shoulder.

“Shut up,” Chase answered.

“That’s saying something, since I’m like a 120 year old grandpa, and you haven’t even beaten my high score,” he said, not that Aleks’ high score was anything to brag about either.

“Sure,” Chase ignored him.

“You just died,” Aleks pointed out as the game also proceeded to crash his phone. Hey, he never said he had a _good_ phone.

“Argh. Whatever,” Chase pouted at the black screen, “This game is unrealistic anyway. I’d could have slayed a bear in real life in seconds with a sword like that. Shut up. Don’t look at me like that.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Aleks said, but oh was he thinking things. Some of which involved how the hunter looked kinda cute pouting over some dumb mobile game. He’d never admit that though.

“Yeah, but you’re thinking something,” Chase responded.

“Give me my phone back,” Aleks said, really hoping mind reading was not a hunter ability.

He handed it back reluctantly. Aleks noticed it only had 10% battery left now anyway. _Great_. He thought about just going to his bedroom to nap for the next three weeks or something but realized that would allow the hunter free reign of his blood stash. He didn’t really trust him to not poison it just for giggles. He didn’t seem the type, but then again, he hadn’t seemed the type to catfish him either. That disheveled hair, caressing and highlighting his face ever so gently even when he hadn’t combed it all day. His stupid well-sculpted jowls. Aleks suddenly realized Chase had noticed he’d been staring at him.

“Hey how’d you end up becoming a hunter in the first place?” Aleks blurted out _really_ hoping Chase couldn’t read minds now.

Chase looked taken aback. Whatever he’d been expecting Aleks to say had not been that.

“Family reasons,” he said curtly.

Aleks gleamed at his response; he’d finally found something to make the hunter squirm at. Besides the appalling state of his apartment, that is.

“Come on,” he said scooting closer to him on the couch, “assigned hunter at birth? Spill the real beans.”

Chase stiffened at the vampire’s movements.

“Not too far off,” he mumbled.

“I was joking,” Aleks said and backed off a bit. Sure, he wanted to annoy the guy, but he didn’t want to harass him, at least not in that way.

“You really don’t know anything about hunters, do you?” Chase shot at him and stood up.

“Most of them I talk to try to kill me,” he said as he watched Chase stalk around his apartment looking for things to fiddle with. “Actually, all of them do. You’re the first I didn’t like permanently maim and kill in return.”

“Wow, thanks,” Chase said stopping at the boxy 90s TV. He wiped his finger across the screen and made a face at the amount of dust that came off with it.

“Don’t mention it,” Aleks joked back.

Chase sighed out of defeat realizing he had nowhere to run from this conversation, literally.

“Okay well, back to the point,” he started, “didn’t you know that hunters, well the good ones anyway, are all um, how do I put this. Not human?”

Aleks blinked at him.

“Not entirely, anyway,” he added.

“No,” Aleks said bluntly, “I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if you, or other hunters I dealt with weren’t humans.”

“Full offence,” Chase scoffed at him, “But you’re the least attentive creature I’ve ever dealt with. I’m surprised you know your _own_ supernatural status.”

Aleks reached behind the couch to pick up a dirty sweatshirt and throw it at him. The hunter caught it with ease and tossed it aside.

“So what, you a wolf or something?” he asked, “That would explain your annoyingness, but not your pleasant smell.”

Someday Aleks would learn how to think before he spoke when it came to people he found attractive. Today was not that time though.

Fortunately, Chase either did not catch or chose to ignore the last part of his comment.

“No, I’m not one of those disgusting werewolves,” Chase sneered.

 _Okay, even I’m not that bigoted against them…_ Aleks thought, but let it slide for once.

“My dad’s human, but my mom’s kind of...not,” he explained, “Her side of the family is nice enough though, usually. I got into the business because the fae are naturally discrete yet delusive. Makes for a good hunter.”

“So what you’re saying is…” Aleks started.

“Yes, I am part fae.”

“You’re a huge hypocrite then?” he finished, “A half-fae hunter who hunts other monsters.”

“Fae are not monsters! I don’t hunt them,” Chase said.

“You are right now!” Aleks said. He couldn’t believe this. Well, he could a little, but he didn't like it. At least he finally found something that made the dude slightly less attractive. Slightly.

“I’m _hiding_ from one and preparing to defend myself,” he clarified, “There’s a difference. I’d never seek out an innocent creature.”

“You tried to off me while I was minding my own business in a coffee shop,” he said flatly and rubbed at his eyes.

“You’re a vampire!” Chase said exasperated, “Look, if it makes you feel better, I probably wouldn’t have hunted you if I knew you were like this.”

“Alluring?” he teased, he couldn’t help it, really.

“Pathetic,” Chase responded.

“Gee, thanks.”

“No problem,” Chase answered, unasked.

“You know, this actually makes a little more sense though,” Aleks said as he stretched back to lay across the entire couch.

“What?”

“I was wondering why you were faster than normal,” he said, “Able to sneak up on me at work and all that.”

“Ever think you might just be a really slow vampire?”

“All the time, to be honest,” Aleks admitted.

Chase let out a laugh. For some reason, Aleks counted that as a win for himself.

“You know if you’re part-fae, why pay me? Can’t you just defend yourself?” he asked, “You’re not half bad in a fight.”

“I’m not strong enough if one attacked me head on,” Chase said, although his voice sounded farther away now. Aleks looked over and saw he’d moved over to the old, worn out curtain now, tapping it every so often and amusing himself with the cloud of dust that would pop out. “I didn’t really gain much from that part of the bloodline except for some stamina, strength, and longevity.”

“And good looks, I’m assuming,” Aleks blundered. _Damn it._

“No, those are just natural,” Chase winked at him from across the room.

“No way. You’ve got this like, pull to you,” Aleks said, incapable of shutting up, “It’s actually kind of nauseating.”

Aleks got up and made his way over to the hunter, making no effort to avoid just stepping on the piles of clothes on the floor. Chase frowned at that.

“Are you sure you’re not just horny?” he asked him, “Or hungry?”

He was never sure of anything, to be frank. He was likely both.

“One way to find out…” Aleks half teased and leaned over him. He really wouldn’t mind sinking his teeth into something, or more particularly someone right now.

“Nope, not today fangs,” he replied put his hands on the vampire’s chest, preparing to push him back.

“Oh, come on. I’ve never tasted fae blood before.”

Aleks was inches away from him now. He wondered if fae blood really tasted different. He’d tried other vamps before, and that had tasted like rusted tea, but that might’ve been some biological mechanism to prevent weird cannibalism. He noticed Chase’s breath had slowed, but he had made no move to get away.

The apartment’s buzzer rang.

“And you’re not going to anytime soon,” he said coming to his senses.

Chase shoved him off and went over toward the door.

“Chase,” Aleks called over before the other man had slipped his shoes on.

“What?”

“If you’re part fae,” he began, “What’d you do to piss off one enough to come chasing after you?”

Chase didn’t answer as the buzzer went off again.

“Gardening stuff. Story for another day,” Chase brushed him off. “Some of us have to eat to sustain ourselves. Come on, you’re escorting me to the front door for the pizza pick up. I’m not paying you to sit on your disgusting couch all day.”

* * *

It took about a week for them to set a real routine.

After listening to Chase moan some more about it, Aleks went out grocery shopping the next night, buying one of whatever he could find because first, it wasn’t his money, and second, it wasn’t like he remembered exactly how much of each item was needed to sustain an adult man.

“Why did you buy 10 pounds of potatoes?” Chase asked as he scrutinized the sacks Aleks had just tossed into the fridge.

“They were on sale?” he offered. He’d thought that Blondie would have been happy he’d saved him 15% off.

~

Chase still refused to have a Friends marathon.

“I’d literally rather die,” he’d said without hesitation when asked if he’d be up for it.

“You know, technically, if I bit you and then we…”

“Stop.”

~

But of course, leave it up to Chase to break the flow of things.

“Where are all my clothes?” Aleks asked one night upon leaving the bedroom.

“The ones you’ve had thrown around the floor since I first got here?” Chase reproached him from the kitchen. “I picked them up and hung them in the bedroom closet. Were you aware that you possess hangers?”

“How am I supposed to find things now,” he whined, “I had a system.”

“They’re sorted by color,” Chase said as he poured himself some orange juice.

Aleks groaned.

“Now I have to walk over and look for stuff in the closet every time I want a new outfit. Let me put some back, please?”

“No,” he tsked, “Suck it up, you baby. I’m not living like that. And don’t try to use your vampire seduction powers to change my mind. I find myself resistant now.”

“My what powers?” Aleks asked. He’d just woken up, so he still wasn’t convinced this wasn’t a dream. It could be. He’d never seen the full floor of his living room before. Who knew he had carpet?

“Don’t play coy with me,” Chase said smugly and sipped his drink, “Vampires have mad seduction powers. Why else would I find you so exasperatingly attractive?”

“My dude, we most definitely do not,” Aleks said barely holding back a laugh, “You should meet my buddy Greg over in New Zealand. Looks like a naked mole rat, that fucker.”

“No, that’s…I’ve fought like 3 other vampires before; they were rather good looking!” He stuttered.

“Are you sure you just didn’t happen to run into hot vamps by coincidence?” Aleks was having the time of his un-life teasing him right now.

“I…I haven’t researched it thoroughly. I just assumed….” He trailed off.

Aleks broke and started outright laughing at him.

“You assumed,” he said between a fit of giggles, “I’m using some mind control hypnosis to make you irresistibly horny?”

“Full blooded fae have a sort of mind control ability so I…thought… I … I have to go to bed now,” he said and slammed his half-full cup into the sink without even rinsing it out.

“It’s like 8pm, and we both keep a night schedule,” Aleks pointed out after he’d managed to stop giggling.

“Goodnight,” Chase said and rushed past him into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

“Hey, that’s my bedroom, get out of there,” Aleks said jiggling the door handled. “Did you seriously just lock the door?”

There was no response from within.

~

“I’m glad you’re having fun, but I’m not sure I can get drunk like that,” Aleks told Chase from his spot on the floor.

As they still only owned one chair, ‘eating together’ consisted of Aleks lounging on the now clothing free floor while the other always took the chair. Something in the back of his mind complained about how unfair that was since it was _his_ apartment, but Aleks ignored it.

“Come, oon. Have you ever tried?” Chase slurred from the table.

Part of Aleks wondered if maybe the hunter would be safer on the floor with him.

“No, but…” he started

“Then do it, chicken,” Chase ordered him and offered him the bottle in his hand.

_God, he was such a brat sometimes._

“Fine.”

Aleks took a swig of the tequila Chase had been chugging for the last half hour. He started to gag and slammed the bottle back on the table; he wanted nothing to do with this trash. It tasted like vomit. No, wait. That was just him. It had immediately come back up and all over the floor.

“Happy?” Aleks asked after he finished puking.

“Kind of,” Chase giggled, the bastard.

Aleks got up to go grab some paper towel and all-purpose cleaner. For the first time, he was glad Chase had ordered him to go buy cleaning supplies the other day.

“Hey what if you bit me, could it work that way?” Chase offered.

“Maybe?” Aleks said after he cleaned up the floor and threw the towel away. When he came back, he chose to sit on the table rather than next to his own puke stain on the floor. He just hoped the flimsy thing didn’t break under his weight.

“Then let’s do it!”

Chase held up his wrist to Aleks’ face. He smelled as intoxicating as ever, maybe more so with the high blood-alcohol content in him right now. Aleks' fangs poked out of their own accord and brushed against the hunter's wrist, drawing just a needle prick of blood out. _Wow, okay._ Fae blood was something else. Compared to the normal human stuff it was like his first sip of nectar after years of only knowing water. A giggle from the drunk hunter snapped him out of his trance before he could sink in deeper. It took all the self-control the vampire had ever owned to push him away instead.

“Nah, dude,” he said, “Bring it up again when you’re sober, and we’ll think about it.”

Chase booed him and frowned at the table but seemed to forget about it when he remembered he could just take another swig of the bottle placed on said table. 

“Do you ever think about things?” Chase murmured to him, barely audible were it not for heightened vampire senses that yes, he did in fact have, no matter what Chase insisted.

“Like do I have thoughts in general? Try not to,” he joked, mostly, “I typically dissociate instead, less annoying that dealing with thoughts.”

“What about right now? What are you thinking?” he pushed him.

The vampire leaned against the wall and tried to balance himself without the cheap table rattling too much beneath him. If Chase were sober, he’d probably be nagging him about putting his gross shoes on the very table he eats at.

“I’m thinking about how you’re a hunter named Chase,” he said, “Pretty lame to be honest.”

Chase hiccupped and snickered.

“Oh, you’re funny,” he said after a particularly loud hiccup. “I like that. That’s better than what I was thinking.”

“Which was?” Aleks pressed him.

“Do you think I’m a bad person?”

“What?” Aleks said. _Oh no_. He hoped the hunter wasn’t a sad drunk; he’d been having fun until now.

“Do you think I’m a bad person?” he repeated, this time sitting upright and looking the vampire in the eyes.

“You’re alright,” he said.

“I’ve killed a lot of people, you know,” Chase whispered, more to himself than anything else.

“That’s what hunters tend to do,” Aleks offered. He didn’t know why someone with as much self-proclaimed experience as Chase was just now realizing what doing his job meant.

“I, hic, I thought they were monsters, right?” Chase said louder this time, “But, what if they were all like you? You’re nice, so that’d make me sad.”

Aleks had no idea what to do now. Last time he’d been alone in a room with a super sad person it was after they’d attacked him then freaked out when they realized he was stronger than they thought. So, he just ended up eating them; it solved the whole crying thing. Probably not the solution to this scenario though.

“I mean, I’ve offed people too,” he told him, “Never done it for pay like you, but killing kinda comes with the vamp life, especially when you’re freshly turned and all rabid and shit. Would you say I’m a bad person?”

“No!” Chase protested hard enough he fell out of his chair, bottle tumbling down and spilling with him. Aleks jumped up and caught him by the arm before he could hit his head on the floor or do whatever else made people accidently off themselves. Chase smiled at him.

“You’re a jerk,” the hunter said, “But you’re... alright.”

“Thanks,” he said helping him to his feet. Once up, Chase picked up the now mostly empty, spilled bottle. Aleks wondered if he should take it from him, for safety of course. He wouldn’t get paid if Chase died, after all.

“Maybe you’ll feel better if you only go after bad peeps in the future?” he suggested, “There’s this vamp Vlad in the next town over, that guy breaks into people’s houses, steals babies and shit. Don’t think anyone would miss him.”

Chase took a second to respond, swaying absently and scowling at the floor before handing the bottle over to him.

“I don’t think I want this anymore,” he admitted.

Aleks took it and tossed it in a nearby recycling bin, yes that was also a recent addition added by the hunter. Chase hiccupped again. Aleks really hoped he wasn’t going to start crying.

“Hey, listen, when you’ve lived as long as me, you find it’s better not to ponder on these kinds of things. Give it till you’re like 50 or so, you’ll understand.” Aleks wondered if 50 was old or young for half-fae. Surely, they were just like normal people right?

“I’m 65,” Chase said as he swayed once more.

Aleks did a double take, looking him up and down. Chase was like 25, max.

“You’re drunk and messing with me.”

“I am!” he professed with a cute little smile on his face. “It’s the half-fae, hic, longevity. Oh god, what if I never die and have to think thoughts forever.”

“I’m telling you my dude, disassociating’s your best friend,” Aleks wished he were joking, “But I think you’re way too wasted to dissociate about your age right now.”

As he said that, Chase proceeded to fall over his own two feet again. Aleks grimaced.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“Whatever, I’ll come back around in 30 years and prove it,” he mumbled as Aleks scooped him up off the floor.

There was a part of him that wanted to comment on hoping they’d see each other more frequently than 30 years from now. Fortunately, Aleks wasn’t drunk like this bozo, so, for once in his un-life, he was able to keep a thought to himself.

* * *

Aleks had been attempting to cook a homemade pizza literally all day. It wasn’t going great, but it wasn’t his fault though; he hadn’t cooked anything since like 1920. Stoves were a little different now. Also microwaves now existed. Could he use a microwave to make pizza? He swore flour, dough, and tomatoes had changed as well since the last time he’d touched them.

It was about 5pm, and Chase was still asleep in the bedroom. He normally didn’t get up until around 7pm anyway. Aleks had just taken to letting him take the bedroom over, to be honest. He didn’t, technically, need to sleep as much as Chase did, even though he _could_ if he so felt it, so it wasn’t that big a loss. Besides, Chase looked really cute when he was all wrapped up in blankets in bed. Not that Aleks would ever tell him that, he had just enough social skills to realize that was probably a top ten creepy statement to tell someone you’ve known for about a month, no matter how true it was.

Chase’s iron weaponry he’d ordered a while back should be arriving tomorrow. Weeks ago, they’d discussed going to pick it up together, and they’d discussed Aleks getting the rest of his payment at that time, but neither of them had brought it up since. He didn’t know if either of them wanted to. He certainly didn’t.

Upon burning his third attempt at forming a viable crust, Aleks threw the pizza out and decided to order something. It’d get here before Chase woke up, which was more than he could say about if he tried to have a fourth go at cooking.

He grabbed the nearest phone to him, which happened to be Chase’s. He entered the password, 1234, and searched online to the nearest open delivery shop after switching the device’s internet on. He didn’t know if Chase was aware everyone in the world could hack into his phone in about 4 seconds, but figured he’d bring it up later. Extra cheese with pineapple and anchovies, Chase’s favorite. Aleks didn’t eat it, but it always smelled like shit every time Chase had made him go out and pick up that order. He sometimes wondered if his friend was a fuckin demon. He wanted to know where his own phone was at so he could look up cat stan Twitters and get in arguments with them from his account, but he supposed he could lurk on Chase’s Snapchat instead. Surely someone there would have posted a cat pic.

“Morning, or night, or whatever. Time is fake,” Chase said some time later coming out of the bedroom rubbing his eyes. “What’re you up to?”

“Was making you stuff,” he said after noting a hot spot on snap near a cat café. “But that failed. So, I ended up ordering out.”

“Mm. Thanks.”

Aleks resisted the urge to comment on how Chase was wearing his sweater and sweatpants. The pants fit fine, but the sweater was at least a size too big and was falling off his shoulder. It was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, but he had a feeling saying that out loud might get him stabbed. 

“Wanna watch Friends while we wait?” He asked instead.

“Absolutely not. It’s garbage.”

Speaking of garbage, the apartment buzzer went off before Aleks could retort. That was freakishly fast, he’d just ordered, max, like twenty five minutes ago.

“I think your gross pizza’s here,” he noted, “Wanna come down with me to get it?”

“Just buzz them up here,” Chase said while making his way to the kitchen sink. “Don’t want to put on real clothes.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” _Do not fukcing mention how cute that is Aleks,_ “Why’d I run out the other week to grab your clothes and stuff if you’re just gonna use mine?”

“I paid you to, that’s why,” Chase said as he pulled down the opaque tumbler with the swirly bat straw to fill it with water.

Right, he’d almost forgotten the reason Chase was still around here. He dropped the subject and went over to buzz the delivery person up.

“Have you seen my phone around here?” Chase asked after he screwed the lid on his cup.

“Yeah, I just used it to order the pizza. You really need a better password,” he said and pulled it out of his pocket to hand it over.

The tumbler he was filling clattered out of his hand and into the sink.

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I’m not, 1234 is a really bad code, dude.”

“Not that,” Chase said more panicked now, “I mean, you went online with it?”

“You use mine to play fuckin candy crush online or whatever all the time,” Aleks countered.

“Yeah well your family doesn’t track you through that yellow ghost app if the internet gets turned on!”

“Chase, do you not know how to turn snap location off? Wait, sorry, did you say your family?”

There was a knock on the door.

“Aleks, don’t answer that,” he pleaded.

“Dude, relax,” he brushed him off, “It’s just your gross pizza.”

“Where’s my messenger bag at?” Chase started frantically running around opening cabinets and closets looking for it. “Aleks, I’m serious don’t answer that.”

Aleks rolled his eyes and ignored him as he dashed over to the couch where his messenger bag had been sitting the entire time. He left him to scrummage around for whatever he wanted and went to go get this gross fish pizza.

He pulled a twenty out of his (Chase’s) wallet and opened the door.

“Delivery for Aleks Reyes?” the delivery lady asked in a singsong voice.

“Yup, that’s me. It’s 15, right?”

“Hmm, yeah. Aleks Reyes, be a dear will you and stand to the side for a second, okay?” she asked him and shoved the pizza box into his arms without even taking the cash.

He did as commanded, although he wasn’t sure why, and the woman walked into his apartment shutting the door behind her. It was then Aleks recognized her and realized how much he’d fucked up.

“Hello, cousin,” the blue haired, maybe not actually a delivery driver, fae smiled when she saw Chase.

“Sam,” Chase said swinging his bag over his shoulder.

“Cousin?” Aleks shot Chase a look, “I’ve been protecting you, from your _cousin?_ I thought you said you pissed a group of fae off!? _”_

“He did,” the woman, Sam, answered for him, “Three weeks ago he ripped up my and my girlfriend’s garden and broke _three_ of our gnomes. Three! He _knows_ I spent four months painting those!”

“Are you joking right now?” he looked between the two fae, “Chase, please tell me this is some elaborate joke.”

“No, I did indeed do that,” he said.

“Why?”

“I thought it’d be funny,” he shrugged, “It was, a little.”

_Yeah Chase was part fae alright_

“Shut up!” Sam stopped them, “You were so hard to find, you know that? Hiding with a damned _vampire_. Smart, cous’,” she paused to flick her hair. “I never would have thought about that since I know how much you hate monsters. But then you were a fucking dumbass 30 minutes ago and not only checked in on Snapchat, but you went on and ordered the most specific, disgusting pizza that only _you_ ever order from _my mom’s restaurant_. I’m almost ashamed to say we’re related.”

If looks could kill, Aleks would be dead right now as Chase glared at him from across the room.

“How was I supposed to know your aunt or whoever had a restaurant and also that you don’t turn snap location off on your phone? We really gotta update your technology capabilities, dude.”

Chase ignored him and turned back to stare down his cousin.

“So what now?” he asked, “You’re really going to try to off me because of some prank about gnomes?”

Sam crossed her arms and scoffed.

“Don’t be ridiculous Chasey. I’m not going to fight you over some stupid garden gnomes,” then she turned to Aleks, “He is.”

“What?” Aleks was pretty sure he was _not_ going to fight his friend, at least not over garden gnomes.

Chase however had a different thought as his eyes widened.

“God damn it Aleks, please tell me you did not write your full ass name on the delivery instructions.”

“I mean, I might have?” It’d been like a full 30 odd minutes ago, how was he supposed to remember what he did or didn’t write?

“Oh, you indeed did willingly give me that oh so helpful information, my dear Aleks Reyes,” she smiled, and Chase groaned. “Now, Aleks Reyes, go fight my cousin to the death over destroying my decorative gnomes.”

Although he’d literally rather be doing anything else right now, Aleks found himself obeying and flung himself over at the hunter. There was a loud _thump_ as Chase had moved the cheap card table in between them to block the blow, and he crashed into it. Using the table as leverage, Chase shoved Aleks back as far as he could muster.

“You know, loose interpretations of the power of names are largely frowned upon,” Chase yelled over to Sam as he ran for the old 90s tv set to use it as coverage.

“Boo-hoo, cry me a river,” Sam answered while checking her nails.

“Umph!” was the response Chase gave that, as Aleks had managed to catch him and toss him across the room into the kitchen. For a second he thought he broke a bone, but upon standing realized it was only one of the stakes he’d fished from out of his messenger bag seconds earlier. He contemplated the two broken pieces of stake and frantically looked at what would help in this situation. There was the window covered with a heavy curtain. There may be enough sunlight out still that that would finish things. But he wasn’t _trying_ to finish things. Great, he was in his first fight against a supernatural creature ever where he _wasn’t_ trying to off them, and he had basically nothing on hand to help with that.

Aleks didn’t give him much time to rest though, as he was already heading back over toward him. Chase wondered if there was any of his friend still conscious in there right now. He’d never really fiddled around with name controlling people before, so he wasn’t quite sure.

Out of ideas, Chase took one half of the broken stakes and threw it like a dagger toward the vampire. He wasn’t aiming for anything vital, but still managed to clip hit him in the shoulder, only weeks healed from the last time he'd done that. From his experience, that should wound him but not cause permanent death, he hoped.

Aleks did in fact falter upon being hit.

“Ow, what the fuck?” he groaned.

“That’s no fair,” Sam whined from her position over by the front door. “Aleks Reyes, keep attacking my cousin.”

With that, Chase could see the light go out in Aleks’ eyes again, and his friend launched at him once more. He just barely managed to jump out of the way, but Aleks instead crashed into the fridge and knocked it over, causing it to land on one of Chase’s feet. There was more pain with that than Chase had the luxury to think about right now. He had to come up with a solution quick, but all his hunting skills and knowledge led back to ways to kill vampires, not subdue them. He hated his past self so much right now for that.

“That wouldn’t hurt as much if you weren’t only half fae,” Sam chimed in with a smirk.

_Oh._

For a second, Chase had forgotten he was, in fact, half-fae.

Aleks had now taken to using any and all sharp kitchen utensils and was flinging them at the hunter. He was lucky Aleks was so terrible at both wielding daggers and distance combat. He kept either missing or Chase managed to catch them.

“Aleks Reyes, uh, stop attacking me?” He tried from his position on the floor while struggling to get his foot out from under the fridge.

That stopped Aleks from flinging sharp metal kitchen utensils at him for all of a half second.

“A+ for effort,” Sam gloated as she watched the fight.

Chase racked his mind for something else, anything else, but all his brain kept routing him back to was stakes. Vampires, stakes, kill, poof, done. He’d never needed more than that. Stakes, sun, stakes, garlic? Don't let a dying vamp get their hands on blood? Wait, that was it. He still had half a stake, he had viable blood, and he was half-fae. He still had half a stake, he had viable blood, and he was half-fae! He prepared himself and prayed he was right, Aleks would never forgive him if they both died like this.

Mind controlled Aleks ran out of sharp kitchen utensils to toss and apparently decided that meant it was time to get more hands on. He stalked over and straddled over Chase, picking him up by the collar. Chase noted the wound on his shoulder from the previous thrown stake and hoped this work. He caught a glimpse of fangs as the vampire moved to tear him apart with them.

Before he could, Chase took his right hand and stabbed Aleks through the heart using the other half of his broken stake. Like before, it was enough to briefly snap him out of the trance. It pained him to see the betrayal on his friend's face once his consciousness awoke and noted what had just taken place, but he knew he had to power onward. Aleks was dying, it was Chase's fault, and he had precious little time left. Reaching for the closest kitchen knife that had been thrown at him, he hastily slit his left wrist on it the best he could and shoved it up to Aleks' face. Blood poured into the vampire's mouth, and Chase only hoped it wasn't too late. He finally got his first sign it was working when instinct took over, and the only half-lucid vampire pushed his wrist aside, opting to instead go straight for his throat. Still pinned both by a fridge and in the vampire's arms, Chase couldn't have fought back if he wanted to, but this _was_ exactly what he'd wanted. Fangs sunk in, deeper than he'd thought possible. It was far less painful than he'd imagined it would be, and in fact he found it rather soothing. The hunter felt himself light headed by the time they were pulled back out. He forced himself to focus though, as he needed to be alert for this next part. He glanced down and noticed Aleks' chest wound was healing itself. Glancing up, he noted the vampire looked dazed and overwhelmed, with his chin splattered with drops of Chase's blood. That was strangely kind of hot, if he's being honest with himself. He didn't know if this next part was strictly necessary to complete his task, but for good measure, and out of weak will, he grabbed Aleks’ face and kissed him. Brief, but firm. Practical, but with meaning. As he’d hoped, Aleks reciprocated. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it didn’t matter. As soon as they pulled apart, he looked him in the eye and said:

“Aleks Reyes, I've saved your life with my blood and sealed our deal with a kiss. You’ve been given a gift from the fae, and I demand repayment. In return, I demand you stop listening to my annoying cousin, forever.”

“Oh boo, whore,” Sam said.

Aleks’ grip on Chase's collar loosened.

“Are you going to stab me every time we’re intimate?” he asked faintly, coming to.

Good, the joking meant he was truly back.

“Depends,” Chase teased. 

Aleks lowered him back onto the floor before moving the fridge off of Chase’s foot. He then took the time glance around and take in the damage of the apartment. It was trashed, to say the least, and that was saying something for the normal state he'd kept it in before. The fridge was cracked along the front side. The cheap card table was in pieces. Even the old 90s tv had fallen over during the scuffle. He still had the couch though, he supposed.

“I feel like I’m not getting a deposit back on this now,” Aleks half joked, he really did need that deposit though.

“Hmm,” he heard Sam say as she assessed the apartment herself. “Yes, I suppose it is rather destroyed.”

Aleks found himself stepping in between the two, to try to shield Chase from his cousin. He wasn’t sure what good that would do, since it didn’t seem like Chase could even walk right now, but it was better than nothing.

“Oh, relax,” Sam chided him, “Chase.”

“What?” he asked propping himself up onto his forearms with a grunt he hoped Aleks didn’t notice. He did, and it caused him to get down beside him and lift him up bridal style into his arms like he weighed nothing. It was kind of nice, if Chase was being honest, but now wasn’t the time for that.

“We’re even now,” she stated matter of factly, “You destroyed my garden gnomes; I destroyed your lover’s home. Do you still need a ride to grandmother’s millennial celebration next week?”

“Lover’s?” Aleks asked.

“Yeah, sure pick me up at 3,” Chase answered.

“Very nice to meet you, Aleks Reyes. I suppose we’ll be seeing each other around,” Sam waved at him and walked out towards the door.

“Wait, hold up,” Aleks said before setting Chase down on the couch. “Were you actually going to kill your cousin over some garden gnomes, or was this all some long mischievous fae joke?”

“Oh, I very much was going to kill him,” Sam answered, “Maybe. Depended on my mood when I found him, to be honest; I would have done it if it was funny at the time.”

Aleks looked over to Chase on the couch who shrugged.

“It’s a fae thing.”

“Bye cous’, love you!” Sam blew a kiss to Chase then added, “Take care of him,” firmly to Aleks and shut the door behind her.

“Are you this vengeful as well?” Aleks asked as he deadbolted the door shut.

“No, Sam’s full-blooded,” he said as if that explained everything, “So you just kinda learn to maneuver around it.”

Aleks went over and sat on the floor, his back to the couch, accidentally brushing his head against Chase’s broken foot in the process and pulling out a shout of protest from the hunter.

“Should I like, take you to a hospital?”

“No,” he hissed as he adjusted himself, “It’ll heal on its own in like a day or two.”

“Fae thing?”

“Yeah.”

The two didn’t say anything for a moment. Aleks assessed his own wounds which, as expected, were already healing over. Fae blood seemed to be working wonders for him.

“You kissed me,” Aleks suddenly remembered and blurted out.

“Yeah.”

“And got my apartment destroyed,” he remembered as well.

“Yeah…”

The silence returned.

“I can pay for the damages?” Chase offered after a moment.

“Nah, it’s under a fake social security card anyway,” he confessed, “And rent was gonna go up next term. I’ll pry just move out.”

“Oh, like out of the city?” Chased asked quietly.

“Probably?” he said, “Could go move to New Zealand with ugly Gary. He still owes me from like, 1960.”

“You could move in with me?” Chase said even quieter than before.

“You’ve known me like a month,” Aleks pointed out.

“Yeah.”

“And I’m a vampire?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re a hunter?”

“I’m part-fae too.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

The two let a second go by before they started laughing together. When the silence returned again, it was comforting. Aleks felt at ease for the first time in a long while.

“Dude, if you’d told me this is where I’d end up a month ago, I’d never have believed you,” Aleks said after he'd properly finished soaking in the nauseating aroma Chase always gave off. It was a good nauseous though. It helped him stay focused, present.

“You never thought you’d have such a guy with such a handsome, beautiful face in your apartment with you?” Chase teased him.

“Something like that yeah…” Aleks answered and moved over to grab his handsome, beautiful face and kiss it. Hopefully without getting stabbed this time.

**Author's Note:**

> No, I don't know anything about normal fae lore. Yes, I refuse to research it.
> 
> Anyway I got a tumblr over [here](http://cgcoconutgun.tumblr.com)


End file.
